5/03/2005

Homeschoolers are Odd: Discrimination at it's Worst

NOTICE: This post has moved to my new site here. Please read it there and comment on that site. Thanks!

Scott Thomas....He "makes a few decent points", and I'm finally seeing it through his eyes in some ways. But he is seriously misguided about homeschooling. His facts are wrong, and his extreme bias is not to my liking.

Tim, you've been trying to compromise and be a nice guy. Why don't you just quit sitting on the fence? You know what, I think I will...

Well, I thought I was slightly agreeing with Scott, and did think that he had some good points. But I'm afraid that his second article in response to the e-mails he received has made me jump to one side of the fence.

"My point was not that home schooling isn'tt right for some. My point was itprobably wasn'tt right for most.

Whether or not you agree with my observations about home schooling, and ifwe just look at the numbers of people who choose not to home school as comparedto the very small percentage who do it is obvious that most people agree withme, you can not deny that home schooling is, relatively speaking, an oddity. Ifind home schooling odd, and voiced my concerns...

How dare I think thatsomething you love so much is unusual? How dare I share heartfelt concern? Ithink, therefore I dare."

Columnists and opinion editorial writers need to have a firm voice, and somewhat of a "not with the crowd" mentality. But he crossed the line in that article.

We all agree that the public schools are there to offer children to learn at least the basics of how to read, write, add, subtract, and learn history.

But in his argument, Thomas leans on "teaching professionals" to make his point. As McCullough said, "Hardly an objective voice on the matter given the influence of teacher's unions." Question for you: If kids are being homeschooled, are they in public schools?

Your answer this time is "yes." Last question: "If there are no children in public schools, are the teachers being paid?"

The obvious answer is "no." So we can't rely on this source, an obviously biased source.

But I enjoyed this statement from McCullough:

"An observation - no one is doubting that Christians make excellent teachers -and nobody has argued that everyone need home school their children, and weshould all be grateful for the commitment of great teachers in the dismal publicschools. They are the only chance at a brighter future for these institutions."

Thomas makes a huge over-the-line statement in this paragraph:

"The data shows that most home schooled kids are white, come from middle toupper class families, and live in the most desirable areas."

I can tell you first-hand that a large amount of homeschoolers in our homeschool group are African-American. You cannot make this into some racial, "class warfare" issue.

The majority of homeschooled family's do not have a two income family. They don't have four cars. "Making a choice between a second car, or their children's future is an admirable decision to be made. It is also one that deserves respect," said Kevin McCullough.

But did Thomas give respect? Not in the least. He rather labeled all homeschoolers as "odd."

These family's have fought for this right, this freedom. And we're still fighting it today, as found here (link coming soon) in my online column. But those who have fought for this deserve respect, not the label of odd.

He does not understand homeschooling, and it does not sound as if he has talked to many homeschoolers.

Lastly, I want to address Jetty Betty's statement on my last post on this topic, in reference to the teaching methods:

"The method of teaching is not the important thing. It is GOD!!!"

Well, I think I see where you're coming from. And from this statement I understand that you believe that as long as God is being taught, then it doesn't matter about the method of teaching.

I know you can go through public school and learn from the atheistic curriculum. But from this statement I'm not seeing God being taught in the public schools. That's not the important thing in public schools.

Let me reiterate...I do not think public school is bad for you, just not always the best choice. You aren't dumb if you go to public schools. You can function as an adult. But Scott Thomas has gone way to far in his statements on homeschoolers.